GOP Congressman Scraping By on Only $400,000 After Taxes

If you're a relatively rich Republican congressman, what's a bad way to frame your opposition to the president's proposal for a tax increase on millionaires? Maybe going on television and remarking that you have only $400,000 after taxes to reinvest in your interests. ThinkProgress' Alex Seitz-Wald flagged Monday morning's MSNBC interview with Rep. John Fleming, where he does exactly that. After being asked about the $6 million profit of his businesses last year, he responded that, "the amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million, and so by the time I feed my family I have, maybe, $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment..."

Regardless of how much Fleming needs to reinvest in his businesses, he comes off--at best--insensitive. And MSNBC's interviewer Chris Jansing points this out immediately. For comparison's sake, we'd file the moment alongside Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy complaining about his $174,000 yearly salary and Michael Steele not knowing what the minimum wage is. In other words, as Political Wire's Taegan Goddard remarked, "This is much worse than a politician not knowing the price of a gallon of milk..." Video, via ThinkProgress, is below:

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